1. View the menu of programs on the left and select those which interest you.
2. Complete the application form and submit it with your registration fees.
3. Applications received by April 30th will be given priority.

What are your professional development needs?
Let us know and get a special treat!

K-12 Teachers of all subjects are invited to apply for this program, as are any school system employees.

Participants will choose a book from the list provided. The book will be mailed to you—along with detailed instructions for completing your assignment. If you plan and implement a lesson that enhances reading and/or writing skills (as specified in the instructions), your CEU credits will be split between science content credit and reading credit. If your lesson does not include a reading/writing component, your credits will be in science. This is your choice. Option 1 assignments are due by August 15, 2009. Option 2 assignments are due by October 15, 2009.  

Option 1: 2.0 CEUs ($20.00 registration fee) *Assignment due by August 15, 2009

• Read your book.
• Submit a two-page report on your book, using a format provided by the Center.
• Design and submit a lesson plan that incorporates some element of your book. If you wish to receive reading credit (K-8), Include in your lesson plan an element that engages your students in reading and/or writing.

Option 2: 3.0 CEUs ($30.00 registration fee) *Assignment due by October 15, 2009

• Read your book.
• Submit a two-page report on your book, using a format provided by the Center.
• Design and submit a lesson plan that incorporates some element of your book. If you wish to receive reading credit (K-8), Include in your lesson plan an element that engages your students in reading and/or writing.
• Implement your lesson plan with a class and submit an evaluation report on the effectiveness of your lesson, using a format provided by the Center.  

Instructor: Karen Dawkins dawkinsk@ecu.edu

Note: You may submit only one application (one book) at this time. No teacher may participate more than twice in this program.

Book List:

• Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner
• Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNAby James D. Watson
• The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Storyby Richard Preston
• Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year-History of the Human Bodyby Neil Shubin
• Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease by Sharon Moalem, Jonathan Prince
• A Life Decoded: My Genome, My Lifeby J. Craig Venter
• The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animalby Jared M. Diamond
• The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston
• Teaching with the Brain in Mindby Eric Jensen
• Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plantsby Tom Brown, Heather Bolyn (Illustrator), Trip Becker (Illustrator)
• Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy
• Enthusiasm for Orchids: Sex and Deception in Plant Evolutionby John Alcock
• Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Webby Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis
• Flower Hunters by Mary Gribbin, John Gribbin
• Tree Identification by George W. D. Symonds, Stephen V. Chelmin
• Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's Historyby David Beerling
• The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plantsby Peter D'Amato
• Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankindby Henry Hobhouse
• Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forestby Mark J. Plotkin, Mark J. Plotkin (Photographer)
• Native Alternatives to Invasive Plantsby C. Colston Burrell
• A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboonsby Robert M. Sapolsky
• Cry of the Kalahariby Mark Owens, Delia Owens
• The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck, Richard Astro
• The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, Julian S. Huxley
• Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Natureby Janine M. Benyus
• Last Chance to Seeby Douglas Adams, Mark Carwardine
• Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are by Frans de Waal, Frans de Waal (Photographer)
• Primates & Philosophers: How Morality Evolved by Frans de Waal, Stephen Macedo (Editor)
• Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of Historyby Stephen Jay Gould
• In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mindby Eric R. Kandel
• Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestryby Bryan Sykes
• The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odysseyby Spencer Wells
• Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Treeby Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, Ann Turner
• The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering by Michael J. Sandel
• The Genetic Strand: Exploring a Family History Through DNA by Edward Ball
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday
• Why There's Antifreeze in Your Toothpaste: The Chemistry of Household Ingredientsby Simon Quellen Field
• The Cartoon Guide to Chemistryby Larry Gonick
• Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plasticsby Kevin M. M. Dunn
• The Alchemist's Kitchen: Extraordinary Potions and Curious Notionsby Guy Ogilvy
• Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curieby Barbara Goldsmith
• Crime Scene Chemistry for the Armchair Sleuth by Cathy Cobb, Monty L. Fetterolf, Jack G. Goldsmith
• Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significanceby Eric R. Scerri
• Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements by John Emsley
• Essential Elements: Atoms, Quarks, and the Periodic Table by Matt Tweed
• Guide to the Elements by Albert Stwertka
• The Dance of the Molecules: How Nanotechnology is Changing Our Lives by Ted Sargent
• Exploring the Geology of the Carolinas: A Field Guide to Favorite Places by Kevin Stewart and Mary-Russell Roberson
• The Field Guide to Geology by David Lambert
• Exploring North Carolina’s Natural Areas by Dirk Frankenberg (editor)
• Environmental Science Demystifiedby Linda Williams
• An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warmingby Al Gore
• The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations by Brian Fagan
• Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman
• Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Yearby S. Fred Singer, Dennis T. Avery
• Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planetby Mark Lynas
• Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku
• The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next by Lee Smolin
• The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence Krauss
• The Physics of Football: Discover the Science of Bone-Crunching Hits, Soaring Field Goals, and Awe-Inspiring Passes by Timothy Gay, Bill Belichick
• Cartoon Guide to Physics by Larry Gonick
• Einstein for Beginners by Joseph Schwartz
• The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios
• Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devicesby William Gurstelle
• On the Shoulders of Giants: The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy by Stephen Hawking (Editor)
• The Physics of NASCAR: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber = Speed by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, Ray Evernham
• Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein, Robert W. Lawson
• Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theoryby Brian Greene
• Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos by Michio Kaku
• The Flying Circus of Physics With Answersby Jearl Walker
• Insultingly Stupid Movie Physicsby Tom Rogers
• Don't Try This at Home!: The Physics of Hollywood Moviesby Adam Weiner
• What the Bleep Do We Know!?: Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente
• Joy of Physics by Arthur W. Wiggins, Sidney Harris (Illustrator)
• Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century by Michio Kaku
• Thirty Years That Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory by George Gamow

Coastal Processes and Conflicts: North Carolina's Outer Banks

Current (Spring or Fall 2009) Earth/Environmental Science Teachers are invited to apply for this program. There are 15 slots available. Application forms will be accepted through April 30, 2009. Assignments will be due by August 15, 2009.

Program details:

• Cost: $30.00
• Benefits to teachers:
• 3.0 CEUs
• Copy of new curriculum resource with companion CD
• Relevant content information and exemplary teaching strategies

This is a pilot program designed to introduce teaches to a new curriculum resource designed specifically to enhance North Carolina’s Earth/Environmental Course (although it may be effectively used in other courses).

Teachers who are selected to participate will receive a copy of the new curriculum, including a Companion CD with slides used in the lessons. The program requires that participants use the curriculum resource as the basis for completing assignments that will essentially take them through the lessons in the book.

For those teachers who complete this introductory project, there will be an opportunity to participate in an implementation project with students that will award additional CEUs during fall 2009.

Topics included in the curriculum include:  Geologic Development of Coastal North Carolina,  Time,  Sea-Level Change and Coastal Dynamics, Transfer of Energy and the Hydrologic Cycle,  Storms and Coastal Erosion, Surface Water Dynamics, North Carolina Coastal Plain Province,  Barrier Islands, Role of Barrier Islands and Their Inlet/Outlet Systems, Back-Barrier Sounds of the Northern Coastal Province, The Shoreline, Shore Zone, and Beach,  Ocean Beaches, Estuarine Shorelines Behind Simple Overwash Barrier Islands, Estuarine Shorelines Behind Complex Overwash Barrier Islands, The Coastal Dilemma,  Human Responses to Eroding Shorelines, Using Coastal Evidence to Make Management Decisions, Making a Cross Island Topographic Profile, Making a Topographic Profile of Your School Yard, Using Scientific Evidence to Make Community Decisions.

If you need additional information before making a decision, contact Karen Dawkins dawkinsk@ecu.edu.

The PSSM on-line course series is intended to provide content based professional development for science and mathematics teachers in K-12. The series of science courses incorporates the following features recommended by teachers to meet their needs for professional development.

1. Content is focused on topics found in a single course or small range of grade levels. For example, a second grade teacher can choose a course specifically developed for K-2 teachers. A high school biology teacher can select a course focused on topics in the biology Standard Course of Study.
   
2. The textbooks for the courses are on-line versions of three resources:
3. • The NC Standard Course of Study for Science
   • The National Science Education Standards
   • Benchmarks for Science Literacy
     
4. Teaching applications are integrated into the courses, offering opportunities for teachers to develop lessons that fit appropriately into their plans.
   
5. For grades K-8, reading and writing are incorporated into modules, providing practical suggestions for enhancing language arts skills in a natural and common-sense way. Units of credit will be awarded in reading and science for those modules.
   
6. Each course consists of four 12-hour modules, allowing participants to complete small components of the course as time permits.
   
7. Teachers completing each course (4 modules) will receive license renewal credits equivalent to 48 contact hours. Credit for each 12-hour module equals 1.2 units. The allocation of units is as follows:
8. • Per Module .7 unit for science + .5 unit for reading = 1.2 units
   • Per Course 2.8 units for science + 2.0 units for reading = 4.8 units

The cost for each module is $40.

Modules available for Fall 2008 are listed below:
*Only teachers who have completed Module 1 are eligible for Module 2
** You may only apply for one module at a time.

K-12 Teachers of all subjects are invited to apply for this program, as are any school system employees.

You will learn to use Microsoft Producer (free download) to create a video project appropriate for use in the classroom. A tutorial and sample movie will be provided electronically. Upon receipt of your project, the CSMTE will provide you with a certificate verifying your participation for 3.0 CEUs.  Access will be given to the project's SharePoint site which houses all training materials, examples, and discussion boards.

• Registration fee: $30
• 3.0 CEUs (including technology credits)
• Possible opportunity to collaborate with CSMTE staff to present your project at a professional meeting (technology, science, or mathematics)

More details about your project: You will need access to a digital camera. If you need to borrow one from the Center, you may do so. If you have access to a digital video camera, you may choose to use it, but it is not essential. You have a great deal of freedom to design a project that interests you and that will be a valuable resource for your teaching. The tutorial will guide you step-by-step in producing your movie and you will receive a sample video that will give you an idea of what you can do with the program.

Your assignment is to design a lesson in which your video is a component. There are many options for doing this—including preparing a Power Point Presentation in which your short video clip is embedded. Michael Swinson swinsonm@ecu.edu will be available to assist you as needed.

Instructor: Michael Swinson

K-12 Teachers of all subjects are invited to apply for this program, as are any school system employees.

Participants will choose from a list of state parks and complete a geocaching assignment for the site using GPS. (Your cache will be a natural resource.) Instruments are available for loan from the Center for this project. Participants need access to a digital camera as well. [Includes technology credit]

• Option A: Report- 1.0 CEU ($10.00 registration fee)
• • For 1.0 CEU, you will include these elements: (1) describe unique features of the park (2) locate interesting sites at the park, determine GPS coordinates, take digital photos of the sites (and yourself),and describe the sites and their significance.
• Option B: Report + Lesson Plan- 2.0 CEUs ($20.00 registration fee)
• • For 2.0 CEUs, you will complete the first assignment and design a lesson plan using information and materials you developed.
• Option C: Report + Lesson Plan + Implementation- 3.0 CEUs ($30.00 registration fee)
• • For 3.0 CEUs, you will complete assignments 1 and 2 as well as implement the lesson after school starts in the fall and submit a report on your implementation.

More details about your project:
After submitting your application, promptly send an email to Jennifer Vinciguerra (vinciguerraj@ecu.edu) which includes:

• The name of the park you will visit
• The date you will make your trip to the park
• Indication of whether or not you will need to borrow a GPS unit for the project.

Park List

• Medoc Mountain
• Pettigrew
• Merchants Millpond
• Goose Creek
• Cliffs of the Neuse
• Jockey’s Ridge
• Fort Macon
• Fort Fisher
• Hammocks Beach
• Lake Waccamaw
• Carolina Beach

If you wish to visit a different park, contact Jennifer Vinciguerra for approval. A map of North Carolina state parks may be found at this site: http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/ncmap.html. 

SITE Geometry
June 15-19 at East Carolina University
Cost: $50
3 CEUs

This five-day institute will cover content material and pedagogical strategies from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Geometry. Topics include:  Analytic Geometry, Transformational Geometry, Polygons, Circles, and Geometric Probability. Teaching strategies will emphasize the use of technology as well as strategies for teaching theorems on circles and polygons, for completing the entire curriculum in the allotted time, and for combining objectives.

Instructors: Ellen Hilgoe, Erny Hoke, and Michael Swinson

Science for Elementary Teachers: Grades 3-5
June 15 – 18 at Wintergreen Elementary School, Pitt County
Cost: $50
2.4 CEUs

Science for Elementary Teachers is a four-day institute that focuses on major science themes that run through the NC Science Standard Course of Study for Grades 3-5. Institute participants will actively engage in lessons that deepen their own understanding of the science that they teach. The instructional model used in the institute is the 5-E learning cycle, a strategy that has been very successful in supporting student learning in science (and other subjects). In addition to instruction, participants will receive curriculum materials related to science objectives in each grade level.

Instructors: Phyllis and George Rumpp

SITE: Advanced Functions and Modeling
June 22 - 26 at Kinston High School, Lenoir County
Cost: $50
3.0 CEUs

AFM focuses on function concepts from multiple perspectives: symbolic, graphical, and tabular.  Modeling techniques using real-world data collection will be covered.  Interactive, hands-on sessions will provide participants the opportunity to explore new ideas and practice with calculator technology and lab activities.  Technology will be an integral part of this workshop (emphasis on use of graphing calculators, TI-Interactive, and Fathom).  Although geared toward teachers teaching this 4th year mathematics class, this institute is appropriate for ALL 9-12 teachers!

Instructors: Karen Vaughan and Michael Swinson

Making Connections: Big Ideas in Science
July 20 – 24 at Southside HS, Beaufort County
Cost: $10
3.0 CEUs

Making Connections is a five-day institute that focuses on the content and major concepts in the North Carolina science curriculum (K-8).  It also addresses the idea of vertical alignment across grade levels. This institute is designed to deepen participants' science content knowledge and to strengthen their ability to teach science using the 5-E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate, Elaborate), a strategy that ensures active involvement of students. Priority given to teachers in Beaufort, Pamlico, and Hyde Counties.

Instructors: Leigh Apple, Julie Billups-Rattler,  Terry Gatlin, Sheri Hale, Susan Howard, Lisa Lee, Cheryl McLawhorn, Catherine Revels, Martha Ross, and Georgette Rush.

Technology for Teachers
August 10 – 11 at East Carolina University
0.6 CEU for each day of attendance  

Monday, August 10: Lights, Camera, Action
In this workshop, teachers will be given direct instruction necessary to complete the independent distance education project entitled, "Lights, Camera, Action."  Specific procedural tasks will be completed addressing the project requirements, software training, video equipment introduction, and Microsoft SharePoint. 
Instructor: Michael Swinson
Cost: $10

Tuesday Afternoon, August 11: Tinkerplots
Participants will be introduced to active learning practices utilizing Tinkerplots software in middle school mathematics classes. Focus to be centered on performance tasks within the software and modeled to illustrate integration techniques for the classroom.
Instructor: Michael Swinson
Cost: $10

• Explore the math behind Global Positioning Systems technology.
• Learn how to use a Garmin eTrex GPS receiver.
• Venture into the great outdoors to complete a GeoCaching activity using a Garmin eTrex GPS receiver.

Instructor: Jennifer Vinciguerra
Cost: $10

X Marks the Spot: A Summer Treasure Hunt with Technology
Cost: $30
3.0 CEUs of Technology Credit

K-12 Teachers of all subjects are invited to apply for this program, as are any school system employees.

Do you know what's hidden in the world around you, right underneath your nose? Outside your local grocery store or in your favorite park there could be treasure simply waiting to be discovered. Go on an exciting treasure hunt with technology by engaging in geocaching activities- using a GPS receiver as your guide.

Participants of this workshop will:

• Learn about the sport and technology of geocaching
• Create a free user account at Geocaching.com
• Learn how to use the website to locate geocaches in their area
• Seek a variety of types of geocaches with the aid of a GPS receiver
• Take a digital photograph of themselves  at each find
• Return  to Geocaching.com to log their finds at the site
• Submit a report to CSMTE
• Create a lesson plan for a geocaching activity that can be done at their schools

Instructor: Jennifer Vinciguerra
Please contact Jennifer Vinciguerra if you need to borrow a GPS receiver or have any questions about this workshop. vinciguerraj@ecu.edu